Comparing Kyle Shanahan and Matt LaFleur

In the past 10 games, both Shanahan and LaFleur have won 7 games -- they have their teams rolling.
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Kyle Shanahan and Matt LaFleur are two of the hottest coaches in the NFL and they're extremely similar.

They essentially run the same offensive system, because they worked together for years in Houston, Washington and Atlanta. And at each spot, LaFleur worked under Shanahan. Which means Shanahan is his mentor.

In the past 10 games, both Shanahan and LaFleur have won 7 games -- they have their teams rolling. And both coaches are the stars of their offense. Both have quality weapons and extremely efficient quarterbacks, but it's Shanahan and LaFleur who ultimately get credit for their offense's success because both are able to scheme receivers wide open more than most coaches.

In the Packers' playoff demolition of the Cowboys this past Sunday, quarterback Jordan Love was close to perfect, but his receivers were wide open, and he still made them leap and contort their bodies to make catches. Meaning LaFleur was the star of that game, just as Shanahan is the star when Purdy throws to wide open receivers.

The biggest difference between Shanahan is LaFleur is how they develop quarterbacks. Shanahan essentially doesn't. He tried to develop Trey Lance, gave up and turned to Purdy, who was NFL ready as soon as he stepped into the 49ers facility.

As opposed to LaFleur, who spent three years developing Love on the bench, and now Love is elite. Or he's playing at an elite level. Which could mean LaFleur is better at developing quarterbacks than Shanahan.

That wouldn't mean LaFleur is a better coach than Shanahan, but it's an interesting distinction.


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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.